ROSALES, SHAIRA JHANN L.

JULY 16, 2013

BS CHEM 1H1

JOSE RIZAL: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

JOSE RIZAL, the national hero of the Philippines and pride of the Malayan race,
was born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna. He was the seventh child
in a family of eleven children. Both his parents were educated and belonged to
distinguished families.

His father, Don Francisco Mercado Rizal, an industrious farmer whom Rizal
called “a model of fathers,” came from Biñan, Laguna. While his mother, Doña Teodora
Realonda, a highly refined and proficient woman whom Rizal called a “loving and
sensible mother,” was born in Meisic, Sta. Cruz, Manila. At the age of three, he learned
the alphabet from his mother and at five, while learning to read and write, he already
showed inclinations to be an artist. He astounded his family and relatives by his pencil
drawings and sketches and by his clay moldings. At the age eight, he wrote a Tagalog
poem, “Sa Aking Mga Kababata,” which the theme revolves on the love of one’s
language.

In 1877, at the age of sixteen, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree with
“excellent” grades from the Ateneo Municipal. In the same year, he enrolled in
Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas, while at the same time took
courses leading to the degree of surveyor and expert assessor at the Ateneo. He
finished the latter course on March 21, 1877 and passed the Surveyor’s examination on
May 21, 1878 but because of he was still seventeen, he was not granted license to
practice the profession until December 30, 1881.

In 1878, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas but had to

stop in his studies when he felt that the Filipino students were being discriminated by
their Dominican tutors. On May 3, 1882, he sailed for Spain where he continued his
studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid. On June 21, 1884, at twenty-three, he has
conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine and on June 19, 1885 at twenty-four, he
finished his course in Philosophy and Letters with “excellent” grades.

Having traveled extensively in Europe, America and Asia, he mastered twenty-

two languages. These include Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German,
Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Malayan, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit,
Spanish, Tagalog, and other native dialects. A versatile genius, he was an architect,
artist, businessman, cartoonist, educator, economist, ethnologist, scientific farmer,
historian, inventor, journalist, linguist, musician, mythologist, nationalist, naturalist,
novelist, ophthalmic surgeon, poet, propagandist, psychologist, scientist, sculptor,
sociologist and theologian. He was an expert swordsman and a good shot.

In the hope of securing political and social reforms for his country and at the
same time educate his countrymen, Rizal, the greatest apostle of Filipino nationalism
published several works with highly nationalistic and revolutionary tendencies while in
Europe. His daring book “Noli Me Tangere,” a satirical novel exposing the arrogance
and despotism of the Spanish clergy was published in Berlin in March 1887. In 1890 he
reprinted Morga’s “Successos de las Islas Filipinas” in Paris, with his annotations to
prove that the Filipinos had a civilization worthy to be proud of even long before the
Spaniards set foot on the Philippine soil. On September 18, 1891, his second novel, “El
Filibusterismo”, a sequel to Noli Me Tangere had more revolutionary and tragic than the
latter, was printed in Ghent.

Because of his fearless exposures of the injustices committed by the civil and
clerical officials, Rizal provoked the animosity of those in power. This led himself, his
relatives and countrymen into trouble with the Spanish officials of the country. As a
consequence, he and those who had contacts with him were shadowed. The authorities
were not only finding faults but even fabricating charges to pin him down. Thus, he was
imprisoned in Fort Santiago from July 6, 1892 to July 15, 1892 on a charge that anti-friar
pamphlets were found in the luggage of his sister Lucia who arrived with him from Hong
Kong. While a political exile in Dapitan, he engaged in agriculture, fishing and business;
he maintained and operated a hospital, he conducted classes and taught his pupils the
English and Spanish languages, arts, sciences, vocational courses including agriculture,
surveying, sculpturing, and painting, as well as the art of self-defense.

He did some researches, collected specimens and entered into correspondence

with renowned men of letters and sciences abroad and with the help of his pupils, he
constructed water dam and a relief map of Mindanao that were both considered
remarkable engineering feats. His sincerity and friendliness won him the trust and
confidence of even those assigned to guard him, his good manners and warm
personality were found irresistible by women of all races with whom he had personal
contacts, his intelligence and humility gained for him the respect and admiration of
prominent men of other nations while his undaunted courage and determination to uplift
the welfare of his people were feared by his enemies.

When the Philippine Revolution started on August 26, 1896, his enemies lost no
time in pressing him down. They were able to enlist witnesses that linked him with the
revolt and these were never allowed to be confronted by him. Thus, from November 3,
1986, to the date of his execution, he was again committed to Fort Santiago. In his
prison cell, he wrote an untitled poem, now known as "Ultimo Adios" which is
considered a masterpiece and a living document expressing not only the hero’s great
love of country but also that of all Filipinos. After a mock trial, he was convicted of
rebellion, sedition and of forming illegal association.

In the cold morning of December 30, 1896, Rizal, a man whose 35 years of life
had been packed with varied activities which proved that the Filipino has capacity to
equal if not excel even those who treat him as a slave, was shot at Bagumbayan Field.